Question

In meditation(冥想),people sit quietly and focus their attention on their breath.As they breathe in and out,they attend to their feelings.As thoughts go through their minds,they let them go.Breathe.Let go.Breathe.Let go.

According to a recent study at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre,Massachusetts,three months of training in this kind of meditation causes a marked change in how the brain allocates(分配)attention.It appears that the ability to let go thoughts that come into mind frees the brain to attend to more rapidly changing things and events in the outside world.Expert meditators are better than other people at catching such fast-changing stimuli(刺激),like facial expressions.

The study provides evidence for changes in the workings of the brain with mental training.People can learn and improve abilities of all sorts with practice,everything from driving to playing the piano.The study has shown that meditating is good for the brain.It appears to reduce pressure and promote a sense of well-being.

In an experiment,17 volunteers with no meditation experience in the experimental group spent three months meditating 10 to 12 hours a day.A control group also with no meditation experience meditated for 20 minutes a day over the same period.Both groups were then given the tests with two numbers in a group of letters.As both groups looked for the numbers,their brain activity was recorded.

Everyone could catch the first number.But the brain recordings showed that the less experienced meditators tended to grasp the first number and hang onto it,so they missed the second number.Those with more experience gave less attention to the first number,as if letting it go,which led to an increased ability to grasp the second number.This shows that attention can change with practice.

Just ask Daniel Levsion,who meditated for three months as part of the study.“I’m a much better listener,”he said.“I don’t get lost in my own personal reaction to what people are saying.”

1.The underlined word“them”in Paragraph 1 refers to         .

A.feelings          B.minds             C.people                D.thoughts

2.Meditators manage their daily tasks better because they         .

A.are given less pressure

B.allocate their attention better

C.have more stimuli for life

D.practice them more frequently

3.In the experiment,volunteers doing meditation for longer hours         .

A.were more likely to catch both of the numbers

B.were used to memorizing numbers in groups

C.usually ignored the first number observed

D.paid more attention to numbers than to letters

4.The study proves that         .

A.meditation improves one’s health

B.brain activity can be recorded

C.human attention can be trained

D.meditators have a good sense of hearing

Answer

1.D

解析:这是一道指代题。根据第一段“As thoughts go though their minds,they let them go.”当想法进入意识,冥想者忽略它们，可知忽略的是“thoughts”。

2.B

解析:这是一道推断题。根据第二段“three months of training in this kind of meditation cause a marked change in how the brain allocates attention. ”可以推断出冥想者更好管理日常任务是因为大脑可以更好地安排调节注意力。

3.A

解析:这是一道推断题。根据倒数第二段“Those with more experience gave less attention to the first number,as if letting it go which let to an increased ability to grasp the second number.”可以推断出冥想训练多的人群虽然不对第一个数字关注那么多,但是抓住第二个数字的能力增强了,也就是说这些人更能同时记住两个数字。

4.C

解析:这是一道归纳题。本文主要介绍冥想训练对大脑安排注意力的好处,证明了人的注意力是可以训练的。